Artist: Elizabeth Batten | Location: North Myrtle Beach, SC
The Voice of Our Generation
Medium
Oil Paint
Age Group
Secondary (Grades 9-12)
Artist Statement
United by diversity, our generation finds strength in hope. We are the first generation raised by screens, starting school with the first Black US president in office, and coming of age in the time of a global pandemic. We’ve traded prom dresses for surgical masks; our last year of making carefree teenage memories spent teaching ourselves chemistry in quarantine, far from friends. The year of COVID-19 has exposed much of the darkest parts of our society: the noise that traps us in place, the curtain that closes in on us when someone stands against the “normal,” and most of all, the division that runs rampant when the need to band together is more present than ever. We hold the future in soft hands and firm stares, tethered to each other by the very things that set us apart--race, politics, gender, sexuality, and economic background. We embrace the darkest parts of society with open arms, inciting the change we wish to see in the world together. We are the Voice of Our Generation.